This invention relates generally to a device for teaching basic music and in particular to teaching comprehension of tempo and melodic phrasing.
Various teaching aids are available which attempt to teach music fundamentals by a combination of visual and audio representation. In general, the visual portion consists of a stationary display of notes printed on a musical staff and this display is correlated with sound or correlated with a representation of a piano keyboard. In one known device cards bearing visible musical notation are provided with programming notches which actuate the device to produce audible beat patterns. There is no visual movement. In another device a visual indicator is used which illustrates a standard music scale on a display board, the board being electrically connected to a conventional keyboard. When the keys are struck the appropriate corresponding note on the display board is illuminated. With this type of device a note is highlighted but there is no sense of progression through a piece of written music or correlation between tempo and melodic phrasing. Othe illuminated teaching aids are available which are intended to assist comprehension, for example, of chord analysis by relating group notes to associated chords. However, such devices are not intended to relate tempo and melodic phrasing.
The known prior art does not reveal a teaching device, which combines and correlates note and metronome characteristics in the manner disclosed herein.